Without Magic
by billys-green-soup
Summary: A vacationing muggle finds herself on the Hogwarts train and convinces Dumbledore to let her stay, but only if she helps out with the classes. Set in fifth year. Later possible Romance
1. Aboard The Hogwarts Express

Read this story of mine and decided it was dumb and didn't make any sense at all. Soooo... Total re-write! hope this is better than the first one was... Set in fifth year.

Disclaimer: I own only Paige

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Paige Richards hurried through King's Cross to Platform 10. She had a duffle in one hand and a backpack on her back. A small purse was clutched desperately in her other hand as she checked the time again.

_One minute…_

She picked up her pace, narrowly missing the barrier between Platforms 6 and 7. She hiked the backpack up higher and started to jog. She was going to miss her train and have to buy another ticket and then it would take even longer for her to get to bloody York. She had been looking forward to this part of the trip since the beginning, it had just turned out cheaper to fly into London from New Mexico and take the train to York. She glanced down at her watch again, only to see that she was now late.

The platform around her was now more crowded than it had looked from the other side, and the train was only just starting to move. She pushed through the crowd and grabbed onto the rail so she could swing through the door quickly.

She fell to the floor of the train, smiling and sighing, happy to be on it and on her way to York. Footsteps fell beside her and she remembered she was in the middle of the floor, so she got up and began looking for a compartment.

* * *

After three and a half hours, Paige began to worry. The train had left at eleven o'clock and it was only a two hour train ride. She had now missed lunch and, with no breakfast to speak of in her hurry to get to the train, she was starving. Was there a dinner cart or a snack place on this train? Admittedly, she probably should have been worrying more about the fact that she had been on the train an hour and a half longer than she should have, but her stomach deemed this a more important matter.

She looked around at the other people in her compartment, a bunch of girls who, while she had slept, must have changed into school uniforms.

Paige thought this was odd, but the girls all must have gone to school in York. They were odd uniforms, though, with long robes as a part. But what did Paige know? They probably went to some strange school anyway. Who was she to judge?

Getting up and taking off her headphones, she asked the girls in the compartment, "Do you know if there's someplace on here where I can buy something to eat?"

The three of them stared back at her as though she had just spoken to them in Chinese.

Uncomfortably, Paige tried again. "Food? Can I buy food on this train? It's a longer ride than I had anticipated.

One of the girls finally pointed at the door and said, stunned, "Food trolley…"

Paige nodded and tried to smile, picking up all of her things on her way out. She would prefer not to come back and sit with these girls. They made her feel like she was crazy…

As soon as the door was closed behind her, though, she realized a problem she was going to have. Where was she going to sit afterwards? Furthermore, where was this trolley?

After a moment's debate, she headed off in the direction she thought most likely for a trolley to be.

It didn't take long for her to realize, though, that she must have gone in the wrong direction. There was no trolley of any kind to be found here. She would have to go hungry, apparently.

Now Paige was faced with another problem; Where was she going to sit now? She peeked in the windows of a few compartments until she found one that had enough room for her and her things. Inside, three men a bit younger that her sat, a pair of red-headed twins and a black man with dreadlocks. The three of them were laughing uproariously and the black man was writing on some… was that parchment? With a… quill? What on Earth was going on in there?

No matter, she decided finally. She knocked on the door politely, but she was pretty sure the sound was drowned out by their laughter. She tried again, louder this time. When there was no response, she banged on it hard with her fist.

The door slammed open and she jumped. One of the twins was looking down at her. In an instant, his frown became a grin. "Well hello," he said, leaning on the doorframe.

Paige inwardly sighed. One of _those_, then, was he?

It wasn't that she was overly pretty, she wasn't hot or beautiful or stunning. She wasn't plain either, just average. There was just one thing that drew in every man… Curves. Wide hips and big breasts had gotten many a man to flirt with her until they realized she was more than that.

And so this man seemed to be doing. But oh well, she didn't care. She was hungry and upset. She just wanted a place to sit and listen to her music until she got to York. "Um, hi. My compartment got taken over. Can I sit in here? I'm just going to listen to my music and probably end up falling asleep."

The twin stepped back and waved her in. "No problem. Where are you from?"

She headed to the window seat and turned to put her duffle in the overhead, but the other twin took it from her and slid it in. She smiled back at him and sat down by the window. "Edgewood, New Mexico. I'm vacationing here. I can't wait 'till the train gets there."

The three exchanged looks. "Vacationing?" asked the first twin as he sat beside his brother.

Paige smiled and nodded. "I've been looking forward to this part of the trip the whole time."

The three boys exchanged looks, but by the time the black boy opened his mouth to say something, she had her headphones on.

* * *

She had fallen asleep sometime during the ride, her headphones on her ears and a CD player pumping ZZ Top. She awoke, though, when the music started getting fuzzy. She had only been asleep for a little while, waking up at the end of discs to change them, but now the white noise had gotten loud and annoying.

Paige frowned at the CD player. This could _not_ be happening. This was her favorite CD! She took it out of the player and looked at it carefully. After concluding that what was wrong was not visible to the human eye, she buffed the CD and put it back in to try once more. When only fuzz responded to her, she tried another disc, then another. No _way_. This was absolutely ridiculous! How could her player break while she was on the train? What could have happened to it?

After fiddling with her CD player for a bit, she decided there was nothing she could do and she would just have to buy a new one in York. Paige stuffed the thing into her duffle with her clothes and dug out a book, trying to ignore the laughter of the boys in the compartment around her. She noticed, though, that they were now wearing the same odd uniforms that the girl had been wearing, only with red and gold emblems rather than the blue and bronze ones.

It was dark outside now, she noticed. _Where _the _Hell_ was this train headed? She paused for a moment and bit her lip, deciding. Finally, she put her book down and tapped the arm of the twin beside her, trying to stay polite in her confusion.

He stopped talking, his arms still in the air, and looked at her. After being rebuffed enough times, they had finally just left her alone, but now she wanted their attention? He smiled though, a big grin that told her he bore no ill will. "What can I do for you?" he asked, smiling.

She smiled tightly. "Actually, uhm, could you tell me where this train is heading? I think I'm on a very, very wrong train…" She looked out the window again, frowning.

The twin across from her coughed. "Maybe we should introduce ourselves. You're going to need some help here if you're not headed to Hogwarts."

"Hog what now?" Paige asked. "What… What city is that?" Her brow furrowed and she frowned further. What an awful name for a city…

The other twin laughed quietly. "Hogwarts isn't a city… It's a school. It's _our_ school. My name is George. This is my brother Fred and our friend Lee. You're… not a witch, are you?"

Paige raised and eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Lee let out a sigh. "Oh, bloody Hell…" he said, swiping a hand over his dreadlocks.

Fred seemed to be working something over in his mind. "I think we should just have McGonagall take her to Dumbledore when we get there. Sorry, er, what was your name?"

"Paige," she responded shortly, starting to panic. "Paige Richards."

"Well, sorry, Paige. I think it will be easier for you if you talk to Dumbledore about all of this first…"

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Sooooo? What did you think? better? Worse? sets your eyes on fire? Let me know! no matter what the review says, you get a tacoooooooooooooo!


	2. Dumbledore Decides

Oh my god! That too forever. Jeeeeeez… Sorry for the LONG wait guys, and thanks for being so patient. I've had a lot going on, like overloaded classes and a broken computer and stuff. Things get so complicated when you get to college… XP

Disclaimer: Not it!

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Paige got off of the train with all of the students. She had gotten on a _very_ wrong train. They were in some tiny, English village. The three boys had left their things on the train, but taken up her things themselves and dragged her out with them. There was a huge crowd outside, every single one a student. A great man was standing a little ways away with a lantern, yelling out in a booming voice, "Firs' years! Firs' years! This way!"

Paige tried to tug her hand away from whichever twin was dragging her, but he only held on harder. "Where are you taking me?" she asked, trying to stop. When she planted her feet against his pull, though, the crowd started sweeping her in another direction. Lee's hands clamped down on her shoulders and pulled her back onto the path, staying there to guide her behind the twins.

"We told you, we're taking you to the school with us so that they can help you get back to where you ought to be."

He steered her toward a bunch of horseless carriages. Her feet stopped moving of her own volition as she saw them start to take off without anything pulling them… "Uh, Lee? What…?"

"Don't think about it, okay?" one of the twins said, holding out a hand to help her into one of the carriages.

Paige stood there, dumbstruck, staring at the carriages taking off. The boys eventually had to push and pull her into the carriage until she finally flopped down in the seat, still bemused. As soon as the other boys were settled, the carriage started to move.

"How… Does this work? Is this a science school?" she asked, still trying to figure out the movement of the carts without horses. "Like, a technical school? Where they invent weird things and then use them so that people know all sorts of weird things are made at the school? Where are the mechanisms for this thing? I don't hear any gears or anything working. What kind of fuel does it take?" She paused. All three were staring at her. She had said all of this with barely a breath, but now she wasn't sure what to say. After another moment or so, she asked, "Do you know?"

The twin on the left, she thought it was Fred, finally cleared his throat. "Well, it probably won't hurt anything… But then again…"

"No, I don't think it's a good idea," George murmured.

Lee shook his head. "Well what else is there for it?"

Paige's mouth set into an angry line and she forgot about the impossible horseless carriages. "Can you not talk like I'm not here? It's annoying and rude."

The boys all turned to stare at her. "Sorry," said the twin beside her. She thought it was Fred. "We really can't explain it to you, I don't think. Just save your questions for Dumbledore, ok? He can answer you, but we can't."

Paige nodded. This was an acceptable suggestion. She turned to the window and stared out. The forest outside looked nothing like the ones she'd seen before, somehow thicker, more frightening. She looked away from the window. She'd never been afraid of woods before and it bothered her that these ones irked her. They rode in silence the rest of the way to wherever it is they were going.

When the carriage finally came to a halt, Lee and George (she thought) took up her things and Fred waited until they were out, then followed them and held a hand out to Paige. Unthinking, she let him help her down and he took her wrist, making sure again that he didn't lose her and pulling her along behind him.

Paige was almost completely unaware of the people around her, staring at her and muttering, and being dragged and having strangers taking all of her things. She was completely distracted by staring up at the enormous freaking castle they were headed to. She couldn't even bring herself to try and pull out of Fred's grip. All she could do was stare up at the stone fortress. The great doors were open, spilling light onto the grounds and the students exiting the horseless carriages.

As Fred kept pulling Paige to the doors, Lee and George stopped to talk to a tall woman in long robes and a pointed hat. They argued for a few moments until the woman looked up at Paige, dragged in now and still staring at her grand surroundings. She frowned and paled a little, her pinched face drawing up even more.

"Mr. Jordan and Mr. Weasleys, I simply cannot allow this. It is not done. You need to take this girl back to the train at once!"

George shifted the bag on his shoulder. "But Professor, we _can't_! We need to take her to Dumbledore! If we just take her back to the train, she'll remember all of this and she won't be able to get to wherever she was going to go. Can we ask Professor Dumbledore? Please?"

The woman looked down at Paige like a hawk through her glasses. "Alright. Take her in and I will have Filch go and ask Professor Dumbledore to speak with her."

The twins and Lee nodded and thanked her and dragged her further into the building. She nearly fell when she saw a person waving a stick while sparks shot out of it. Her hand raised to point at them and her mouth fell open. "That- That- That… I-"

Fred swung her around so that she faced him. "Don't think about it too much. Professor Dumbledore will explain everything."

Paige shook her head harshly. "This place… This place is… This isn't a technical school is it? This place is a school for… Is this place magic?"

After a long moment, Fred swallowed, then said, "Yes." He looked at his brother and friend. "Just let Professor Dumbledore explain. Please. And don't freak out. Please don't."

George put a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay, we'll get you to York."

Paige threw his hand off and rounded on him, her eyes glittering. "Are you _kidding me_? Don't freak out? How can I not freak out? This is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!"

The three boys hesitated and exchanged another look. "Coolest?"

A wide grin spread across Paige's face. "Yeah, coolest! This is the best thing ever! Is that for serious magic? Literal magic? I _knew _magic was real! My mom always _said_ it was real, but Dad always said no, but now I _know_ it's real! Oh my God, this is the best thing I have ever, ever seen!"

The boys stared at her for a moment before blinking blankly. Paige continued yammering on about magic and asking questions without waiting for answers for a few minutes before the severe woman from before came and asked them to go to Professor Dumbledore's office.

Without waiting for her to stop talking, the twins and Lee dragged her off down a few corridors, Paige eventually falling silent when she realized the paintings and statues moved and spoke and the staircases moved and the suits of armor turned to watch them pass and ghosts floated through the walls in front of them, greeting her companions cordially.

Finally, they stopped in front of a gargoyle statue, which promptly told them, "He's waiting for you," and hopped aside.

Paige let out a little squeal and was dragged up the moving, spiral staircase. She turned to watch out the hole they'd come through where the gargoyle hopped back into place and she squealed again. "Fred! Fred, that statue can move! Oh my _God_, that statue fucking _moves_!"

Fred nodded and when they reached the top of the staircase, George knocked and the door opened, a serene voice from within saying, "Come in."

The four walked into the room and Paige's jaw fell open again, staring around the room once more and squeaking out incoherent words at the spinning bobbles and magical knick-knacks. Fred didn't let her stop to look, though, taking her to the desk and sitting her down in the chair across from an old man who stared at her through half-moon glasses.

Immediately, George said, "Professor, this is Paige. She's a muggle. She was on the train."

The old man's eyebrow rose. "That is quite impossible, Mr. Weasley. There is no way this young woman could have come to Hogwarts without having a bit of magic in her."

Paige's face lit up even further. "Are you saying I _must_ have magic in me? Like everyone out there? That'd be the coolest thing ever! Are you for serious? Do you think I could learn magic too? Is this a magic school? This is the coolest thing I've ever seen! Can-?"

"Young lady," the old man said softly, but with such presence that Paige quieted immediately. "What is your last name?"

"Richards. My name is Paige Catherine Richards. I'm from Edgewood, New Mexico and I was on vacation in England and I was going to York, but I got on the wrong train."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Richards," the old man said. "My name is Professor Dumbledore. I am Headmaster of this school. You are at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry right now, but I am afraid that you are not, in fact, a witch. Do you know of the Magical community in your New Mexico?"

Paige shook her head. "I used to dream that my mother took me to magical places and showed me amazing things, but those were always just dreams…" She stared around the office. "This is the best thing I have ever seen. Seriously. Can I stay?"

Dumbledore steepled his fingers and peered at her over his half-moon glasses. "This is a school for magic, young lady. I'm afraid, as you have never been told of your magical abilities and you have never been a part of the magical community, I cannot-"

"Please!" she burst, grabbing the headmaster's desk. Lee, Fred, and George jumped. "I- I can clean or cook or _something_, please, just let me stay! I've wanted to see magic my whole life, and now I've found it! Don't take it away from me…"

She sat back in her chair and let her hair fall in front of her face. Would they really send her away now? Take away the best place she'd ever been, so that she'd never be able to see these amazing things again? She sniffed back a few tears. She was sure he could wipe her memory of all of this, so that she'd never know of the amazing things, of the moving paintings and the talking statues. She'd forget all about the ghosts and go back to an average life and never know the difference, but she'd still always wish she could see something extraordinary. She'd never remember that she already had, that she'd missed her biggest chance.

With a sigh, the old man sat back. "Very well, Miss Richards." Paige's head popped up, eyes glittering. "I will offer you the position of assistant caretaker. Hogwarts could pay you two-thirds of our current caretaker's salary and offer you a spare room. You will help him keep students in line and assist with punishments, along with minor cleaning, of course. As well as sitting in on classes." He sat back and looked up, thinking. "We could tell most of the teachers that you're a student-teacher from overseas. Would that be sufficient?"

Paige stared at Dumbledore for a few moments before bursting into tears, dissolving into "thank yous" and "I'm so happys."

Professor Dumbledore looked up at the three smiling Gryffindors in his office. "I think you boys ought to go on down to the Hall and tell Professor McGonagall that I'll be there shortly. Miss Richards and I have a few details to iron out."

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Okay, so next time, I'll try to get it up sooner. I hope you guys stay interested through my long breaks! Thanks so much guys!


	3. Welcome to Hogwarts

Longer chapter this time. Hope people are still interested in this story after so long, it's just hard to keep writing fanfiction when I have so much original stuff due for my creative writing class. X . X It's hard to keep up with. I promise to keep updating though! Just stick with me! Hopefully summer will be productive! Yay!

Disclaimer: I do not own and do not make money from any of the characters or setting of Harry Potter. Also, there are some lines directly from the book in this chapter. Those aren't mine either. They all belong to the lovely J.K. Rowling.

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Dumbledore had explained to Paige that she would have to be quiet while he gave his speech and not talk about magic being amazing while she ate the feast at the end of the Teacher's table. There wasn't enough time to begin telling her about too much of the things that happened at Hogwarts. After their talk, he took her into a closet in the back of the room and pointed his wand at a chest. Immediately, it flew open and a dusty wad of blue clothing flew out.

"This will have to do, for now, until we can get you to Madam Malkin's. Here, Miss Richards, put this on."

Paige took the cloth and unwound it from the tight wad it was in, shaking out the dust and coughing more than a bit. "What is this?"

"They're robes, Miss Richards. Wizards and witches wear robes rather than those muggle clothes you have. You can put these on for the time being and we'll get you proper robes after the feast."

Paige tugged the robes on and they seemed to be too tight in some places and too loose in others, along with being coated in dust and smelling strongly of storage space. She was about to ask if he had anything else she could wear when the old man pointed his wand at her and they started to shift around her, loosening around her hips and chest and widening in the shoulders, tightening on the waist and shortening the hem and sleeves. Another swish of his wand and the dust puffed out around her and dropped suddenly to the floor.

"Not as good a job as Madam Malkins could do, but good enough for now, I should think. Now, if you have anything else you'd like to do before I take you in to the Great Hall, you should do it now. We're already late."

Paige stood, dumbfounded for a moment, staring down at the robes that didn't fit a moment ago and now seemed like they were bought just for her. She continued to stare for until Dumbledore cleared his throat and she jumped. "Oh! Right! Sorry!" She dashed over to her bags, tripping over the robes on her way. Underneath them, she pulled her jeans off and shoved them into the bag, then yanked out a hairbrush and pulled it through her hair. Lastly, she got out an eyeliner pencil and looked around the room for a mirror. Finding none, she settled for the most reflective glass surface in the room and slapped on a bit of make-up.

"Okay," she said finally. "I'm ready."

Dumbledore nodded and crooked his arm to her, leading her to the door out to the staircases and down to the Great Hall itself.

In the Great Hall, Dumbledore summoned a chair from his wand and Paige hid her excitement as best she could before she sat down in it next to a tiny, strange looking man. She was gawking, wide-eyed at the gold dishes and cutlery when the man looked up at her, squinting.

"And who might you be, young lady?" he squeaked.

She cleared her throat. "Uhm, I'm the new, uh-"

The Hall around them fell silent and the little man's attention was drawn to the great doors opening. A tall woman with a pointed, witch's hat led in a line of children began filing in and Paige thought of how young these children were, and yet how old. She thought of how amazing it would have been for her if she'd been able to do magic, if she'd been summoned to a magic school…

The woman put down the stool in her hands, bearing an old-as-Earth witch's hat, and stepped back away from it a little. A rip near the brim opened and the hat began to sing. Paige gasped and her hands flew to her mouth. The little man beside her shot her a look, but turned back to the hat.

Paige listened to the song carefully, memorizing the tune, the words. She didn't know if she'd ever hear it again. This beautiful story of four friends founding a school, the warning it brought to them, whatever that was. Did it sing this song each time? What was the sorting? She wished she had some paper to write these lyrics on.

When the song was over, the hall broke into applause and mutters, whispers. Paige clapped so hard her hands stung. She didn't want to stop clapping, but the peculiar little man beside her put his hands on hers.

"I know it was a lovely song, dear, but the sorting hasn't even begun."

Paige nodded and, a little embarrassed, put her hands in her lap to wait. The woman in the hat cast one last look around the hall and began to read from a roll of …was that parchment? Why couldn't these people just write on paper? Was parchment more magical? And for that matter, why not a computer? Oh well, who cared? This place was magical. Technology could bite it.

"Abercrombie, Euan," she called, loud and clear. One of the little boys, looking more than a little frightened, came up to the front to put the hat on his head and sit on the stool. Paige giggled. He looked adorable with the hat fallen down over his eyes and held up by big ears.

Finally, the hat shouted, "_GRYFFINDOR_!" and Paige jumped.

One of the tables erupted with applause and cheers. The boy stumbled over to the table and he sank onto a seat while the other clapped him on the back and congratulated him.

Paige watched, elatedly as the sorting continued until they got to "Umbertobbin," and she began to grow bored of the whole thing. There were only four houses, after all. The tables of students never grew bored though. They continued to cheer each and every addition to their table, though some were looking more than a little ravenous.

As the sorting continued though, her eyes began to wander. She took in the floating candles, lit and casting dancing light over the entire, huge hall. She noticed, finally, that the ceiling was completely black. That seemed odd for such a grand place. She wondered what the meaning behind that was, or had it just not been cleaned in a long time? Paige wrinkled her nose at the thought. There was probably some sort of magic involved and she just didn't know what it was. She'd have to remember to ask Dumbledore later. Her eyes continued scanning over the rest of the room and caught on the five banners with the crests on them, flapping pleasantly, though there was no breeze in the hall. One of them was blue and blue and bronze, the same colors and even emblem with a raven as the girls on the train. That must have been the symbol of their house. Another was silver and green, a snake emblazoned in the middle of the tapestry. The third was yellow and black, a furry badger in the center. The last was gold and red with a fighting lion's image on it. That was the same as Lee, Fred, and George, wasn't it? She scanned over the table for them, but there was a surprising number of red-heads at the table. Before she had looked over the whole thing, the Hall had fallen silent again, the witch having picked up the hat and stool and Dumbledore having gotten to his feet.

His arms stretched wide and he surveyed the crowd before saying, loudly, "To our newcomers, welcome! To our old hands – welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"

Paige nearly clapped her hands off when the rest of the hall began to applaud and laugh. She stopped, though, and gasped when the platters and dishes filled with food before her. She coughed for a moment, having inhaled too much air, and the little man beside her patted her back.

"That's alright, dear. We all feel that way the first time. What was your name again? I am Professor Filius Flitwick, Charms teacher and Head of house for Ravenclaw. I usually sit rather closer to the center, but I arrived bit late to the Great Hall this evening, as did you."

She coughed again and wiped at her watering eyes. "Uhm, I'm Paige. Paige Richards. I- I'm going to be an assistant caretaker, so…"

Flitwick smiled slightly and nodded. "Well that sounds lovely. I'm sure Filch will appreciate the help. You're very young though. You were probably a student somewhere else not long ago, weren't you?"

Honestly, she answered, "Yeah, not long ago." She coughed again. "Is there some water or something around here?"

Filius squeaked and pulled out a stick of wood, waving it. A pitcher floated over to them and poured itself in her goblet. "Will pumpkin juice do?"

Paige nodded. If all of the people she encountered were as nice as the twins, Lee, Dumbledore, and Filius she would be alright at this school, she thought.

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Soooooo? What did you thiiiiink? I shall entice you into reviewing now with HOT, FRESH, TACOOOOS! Do it! DO IT!


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